Wilka Tsetuna
Pricilla Mukokobi
It doesn’t seem that after 20 years in the industry, Shambo prowess Jackson Wahengo will be stopping anytime soon. The creative has recently released his brilliant offering, Ove, which separates his artistry from the rest.
To add to the brilliance of the song which comes with scintillating visuals, Wahengo continues to show his touch of class with each act.
If anyone ever doubted his abilities, they have to spare a moment to listen to ‘Ove’.
“The song and video illustrate a couple that is there for each other and does stuff together, as you might have seen I am doing the dishes, it was not in the so far away past,” he said.
Perhaps this project shows the widely travelled artist’s experience with different cultures.
“I’m based in Namibia now, and only go to visit Europe once or twice a year,” he explained.
With 20 years in the arts safely under his belt, Wahengo isn’t showing any signs of fatigue.
“Yes I have been in the music industry for over 20 years now, that’s a long time,” he said.
He said his growing influence is reminiscent of his many years of romance with his guitar.
“I spent many years studying guitar and I took Tate Kwela’s approach to playing it,” he narrated.
The Namibian classy act inspired by Congolese music said while Jazz being a definitive piece of art, it is still underplayed locally.
“European jazz varies, there is a contemporary fusion pop-ish jazz which is the kind one might find being played here on a very small scale, and then jazz /Bebop which is very technical and requires a lot of improvisation fluidity. This kind of jazz is hardly played in Namibia. The last time I played jazz was when I left varsity. I took a different route and explored my own sound, leaning more towards Aawambo chats which we named Oshambo.”